Ball-striking implement



July 12, 1960 C. L. PAULLUS BALL-STRIKING IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 26, 1957 INVENTOR. CLARENCE L. PAULLUS ATTORNEY Unite 3 9 v BALL-8G IMTLEMENT Clarence L. Paullus, Columbus, .Illiio, assign'onby mesne assignments, to Hillerich & Bradsby 00., Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Sept. 2s, i957; sr. No. esaazs I Claims. c1. ave-'12 1 must be discarded because of failures which occur in the surface of the implement ending its useful life. One type of failure which frequently ends :the usefulness of base- States, PatentQ ball'bats is a separation which occurs in the growth layers 1 of-the Wood of the bat. This has comezt'obe commonly known as chipping. Chipping is thepee'ling off) or separation of a layer of the surface of the batdestroying the smooth curvature of that surface. .Gnce :a "bat has been chipped it must be discarded. The-loss of a bat is not only. a financial loss but," in manyinst'ances, ball players become accustomed to the weight and feel of the bat and therefore the .loss'of a favorite batis anunpleasant experience. l r

1 In the past, various means havebeen suggested to. prove the characteristics of baseball bats and constructions, such as completely laminated bats. .Bats with hol-.

low cores .have' been tried. Insofar as is known, these suggestions have not been successful and bats have re- 2,944,820 Patented July 12, 1960 lCE 2 At the present time and throughout the history of the game of baseball, bats have been made of wood. Better quality bats are at the present time made of white ash or hickory, the very highest quality :bats usually being made of white ash. White ash has been chosen as the most desirable bat material because it is an open-grain hardwood and therefore is relatively strong as compared to the softwoods, because .it may be found with desirable straight vgrain, and because it is not as heavy as some of the more close-grain hardwoods such as birch ormaple. However, in spite of the above-described general attributes of white ash as a baseball bat material, it remains that white ash bats, as well as other bats, have been subject to-failure by chipping; i

The understanding of this invention. and how .it reduces chipping will be, facilitated by an understanding of Woodstructure and its action under load. Wood is a fibrous material made up of successive tiered layers of highand low-density material. When the wood is alive and growing in a tree, the softer, low-density fibrous layers are produced at the rate-of one each year during the spring growing season. The harder, more dense layers .arefproduced one each year during the summer growing season. The growth during the spring growing season is faster, although the-period may be shorter, and therefore the spring-growth layers are softer. The harder summer-growth layers are stronger and provide J I the majority of the strength in a woodsecti'om maimed substantially the same, without improvement for many years; Briefly, this invention comprises the provision of at least one relatively dense reinforcing strip inlaid in the surface of a bat at a position away from the normal striking surface of the bat and the attendant details for this construction.

It is a purpose of this invention to .proyide.-an;improved construction which greatly reduces the failure of ball-striking implements and baseball bats lay-reason of Any beam of wood and a baseball bat when considered as abeam will be stronger under longitudinal bending loads if the loads are applied in the plane of the growth layers. Therefore, it is and has been the conventional practice to provide baseball bats with indicia, by means of-which the user may hold the bat in such a position that the impact loads produced when striking the baseball are properly oriented in the plane of the growth layers of the wood. This indicium is the trademark. By means of the indicium, i.e., the trademark, the bat is designated with a conventionally used striking surface and this striking surface is normal to the-plane of the growth layers in the baseball bat,

Referring to Fig. 1, a baseball bat, designated generally as 11, comprises an elongated body .of generally cylindrical shape which is taperedto a handle portion 12 at oneendand a'bulbous-portion 13' at the opposite end.

The'handle lzis provided with a knob 14 to, assist in prechipping. It is another purpose'to produce this result without changing substantially -.or marringthe accustomed appearance and fine wood beauty of baseballjbats. It is yet. another purpose; toproduce a baseball shat with greatly reduced chipping'characte'ristcs at minimum increase in manufacturingcomplexity.- 3:

To these and other ends, this i invention; comprises a ball-striking implement construction, the preferred'form of which is disclosed in the following description and attached drawing. Although "the implement 7 structure describedand shown in detail refers with par icularity .to the baseball bat, 'it is apparent that this invention should not be limited thereto. "Significant features of this invention could apply withequal' qualification toan-y ballstriking" implement.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side-elevational view of a baseball bat having the inlaid reinforcement strips of this invention;. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 2-Z of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview of a typical strip for inlay in a bat of this invention; 7 g s Fig. 4 is a rotated elevational view taken fromthe position 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the baseball bat of this invention, being held in the normal position and grip.

venting the users hands from slipping ofi the end when the bat is properly held as shown in Fig. 5. At the opposite end '15 the bat 11 isrounded to a smooth, substantially semi-spherical shape.

As shown in Fig. 2 the wood of the bat comprises spring-growthjlaye'rs separated by summer-growth layers 17. 'Thefedges of the summer-growth 'layersfl7 a i dicated a aheavyj ne. the dgeserwhid ppea in F g. In a fa ion heq 'pr a r wi leyer 1 app ar a a l yer 61. finite thickne s, in 'Fig- 1- As p ev s y explain dthebat 11 is provided with a. "tradem rk 18 which elv ual purpose-df iden i yingthe O g o theibat. andii dicating o he ser. the surface of the .bat which is intend djf r s rilcingthe bal1.;with

the least likelihood of breaking the bai -it the "1131151 .thelniaxim m bending streng h of. theibat is ut 'zedwh n it "properly. oriented. Eachbasebal-l bat liform df'i hi ea lv a q aintance witht-heg'anie, the "bat should'be held ,with' the trademark up; instruction causes the face of the bat as seen in Fig. 1 to be swung toward the ball during hitting action. Therefore, the usual. striking surface of the bat is substantially I normal to the plane of the growth rings of the wood in the bat. This striking surface is the surface rotated away, and closely approaching away, from the tradernark side of the bat. To the right-handed batter the in the surface oflthe batat a position rotated away from the usual striking surface'of the bat.

These reinforcing strips are longitudinally disposed in mating grooves cut into the body of the bat 'in the enlarged bulbous portion adjacent to the striking surface. The strips extend frorna position substantially opposite the trademark to the end '15 of the bat and are smooth and contoured to match the surface of the bat. The strips 20 are retained by a suitable cementor glue which is deposited on all sides of their substantially rectangular, cross-sectional shape.

The general over-all shape of a strip 20 may be that shown in Fig. 3 although the primary criterion is, of course, that it mate with the groove provided in the bat 1=1.

Strips 20 may be made of any suitable hard material, but'it has been found that close-grain hardwoods, such as maple, are particularly satisfactory.

Chipping in baseball bats usually occurs at the surface opposite the trademark circum'ferentially removed and away from the striking surface of the bat. In this area,

a separation occurs in one of the spring-growth layers and those layers on the outside of the separation peel away from the bat structure leaving a bat which is no longer circular in cross section. The longer side 21 of the rectangular, cross-sectional shape of strips 20 bridges from one summer-growth ring to the next and, therefore, ties the surface together and the spring-growth layers in place in the area where chipping usually occurs. 7

The number of reinforcing strips 20 has not been found to be critical in this invention and more or less may be used depending on circumstances such as the diameter of the bat cross section, the material available and the expense thereof, the strength of the wood, etc. However, it has been found that the addition of at least one strip will reduce the number of failures by chipping. In an example baseball bat, three hardwood inserts of maple having a width of 4: inch, a depth of inch on the center strip and a spacing of /2 inch from center to center was constructed. 'This structure was tested on a machine which strikes a blow from a swinging hammer having a face of leather-covered hardwood. Blows were struck over an area of the striking surface of the bat. A 7

similar test on a control specimen of like cross-sectional configuration but without strips 20 was also made. These tests indicated an increase in absorption energy of 600 percent before failure by chippingin the inlaid bats of this invention. 7

It will be understood, of course, that, while the forms of the invention herein shown and described constitute the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is not intended herein to illustrate all of the possible equivalent forms or ramifications of the invention. It will also be shape having a plurality of relatively dense close-grain hardwood strips of substantially rectangular cross-section, fastened in mating longitudinal recesses in the surface of the bulbous end of said bat with the longer sides of their rectangular cross section bridging the growth layers of the wood, for the prevention of chipping of the surface circumferentially removed from the striking surface of said bat.

2. A baseball bat comprising: a one-piece elongated cylindrical wooden body tapered to a handle portion of reduced diameter from a portion of enlarged diameter and bulbous shape, at least one reinforcing strip of relatively dense, close-grain hardwood of substantially rectangular cross section, fastened in a mating longitudinal recess in said bat with the longer sides of its rectangular cross section substantially perpendicular to the growth layers of the wood, said recess being of'a depth substantially less than the diameter of said bat.

3. A wooden baseball bat comprising: a one-piece elongated cylindrical wooden body, tapered to a handle portion of reduced diameter from a portion of larger diameter having at least one reinforcing strip of a material denser than said wooden body, inlaid longitudinally into the surface of said portion of larger diameter at a position circumferentially removed from the striking surface of the-bat, and substantially perpendicular to the plane of the growth layers of the wood, said strip being bonded to the adjacent wood of said bat to prevent chipping of said surface. 1

' 4. A construction to prevent chipping of a baseball bat of an elongated cylindrical wooden body tapered to a handle portion of reduced diameter from a portion of larger diameter and bulbous shape comprising: at least one strip of close-grain relatively dense hardwood material cemented in a mating recess longitudinally disposed in the surface of said portion of larger diameter of said hat circumferentially removed from the striking surface 'of said bat and substantially perpendicular to the plane of the growth layers of the wood, said recess being of a depth less than the diameter of said larger portion of said bat. V

5. A baseball bat comprising: an elongated cylindrical open-grained hardwood body tapered to a handle portion of reduced diameter from a portion of increased diameter and bulbous shape having a trademark imprinted thereon at a position substantially perpendicular to the plane of the growth layers in the wood on the bulbousshaped portion, having three strips of relatively dense, closegrained hardwood reinforcement inserts cemented in mating longitudinally disposed grooves in the side of said bat opposite the trademark, said three strips having a substantially rectangular cross section and disposed in the bat with thelonger'side of said rectangular cross section substantially perpendicular to the growth layers of the bat and normal to the trademark.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain -Q. of 1891 

